I'm interested in throwing together some of my musical arrangements, and I wondered if anyone has any tips for whether i should buy a cheaper 4-track recorder, or spend a few pennies more for a digital recorder with, say, 8 or more tracks. They cost quite a bit more but are the features worth it?

jus wonderin'

thanks!

Sen

well how much music are you gonna record or whatever... something like that if alot of music the digital if not the 4 track

My friend Shaun composes techno-ish music, and then uses a 4 track to sample stuff into it. He's perfectly happy with that.

If that's the sort of thing you'd want to do, then I'd go with the analog.

I don't really have enough expertise to advise you past that. =/

Well if its just you on these recordings then definitley the 4 track, but if its a whole band arrangement then 8+ track. But really go with the 4 track.

Most people do fine with a 4-track for simple rock band type stuff. I use my computer to record, though, and I think that is the best way you can go because the quality is just as good or better and it's WAY cheaper and if you want to burn it to CD or upload it to the internet it eliminates extra steps. Plus, it's a lot easier to just store all your work on your hard drive than on tapes or whatever. All you need is an adapter to plug your instrument into your computer's line in port (which is like three bucks at RadioShack) and a program to record with. You can buy a neat one, or you could go with the simple but highly effective freeware program <a href=http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ target=_blank>Audacity</a>.

If you can, post some of your stuff when you've recorded it!

thanks for the info, terry-kun, since i don't have a PC, i can't record like that, otherwise i think that's what i'd opt for. How long have you been playing? What's u'r style? I tend to just play anything that catches my ear, lately my acoustic is my best friend. take it easy, and thanks again.

Sen

Are you just posting from school then, or something? Or do you mean you have a Mac? Because a Mac would work just as well.

In that case, it would help to know what you intend to record, and what you're planning on doing with it. If all you want is something to mess around with and make simple demos, with guitar, drums, bass, and vocals, then a 4-track will do you just fine. Then again, maybe you'd be best off just saving up for a PC instead, since you can do so much more with that anyway?

Also, consider this: Are you going to want to broaden your horizons a lot in the future, and do fancier and fancier stuff with your music? And are you going to have more money in the future? Because buying a high-quality digital 8-track recorder now may be beneficial in the future. You might do stuff on it at first that you could have done just fine on a 4-track but then you might progress and do much fancier stuff. Take the future into account.

I've been playing for between two and three years, so I'm not super or anything, but I pretty much only play power chords and really simple licks because what I'm interested in playing is mostly just punk stuff.

It really depends on what you want to record, but I'd say go for the 4-track.

My advice is late and frivolous.